Wrench



June 24, 1930.l

WRENCH Filed Feb. 19, 1930 v VENTOR L.y E. ENDslEY 1,767,441

Patented .lune 24, 1930 ,o

' ics WRENCH i Application filed February 19, l930.` Serial No.429,582;l

My invention relates more particularly to one-piece wrenches that are soformed as to permit a ratchet-like movement of the wrench during theoperation of turning a nut. j l

VOne object of my invention is to provide a one-piece ratchet Awrenchwherein there are no sharp corners or angles, thereby rendering thewrench less liable to develop 1Q cracks in suoli corners or anglesduring heattreating thereof, and making Iit easier to forge or otherwiseforni the wrench than would be the case if ithad sharp corners and themetal had to be caused to enter Another object of my invention is toprovide a wrench wherein while one jawthereof has teeth or serrations,such teeth, instead of being angular or sharp, are rounded to therebyprovide for a suflicient gripping of a nut, and at the saine timeavoiding sharp angles wherein cracks would tend to develop duringheattreatrnent of the wrench.

Another object of my invention is to provide a wrench having a short,substantially flat, jaw and itsother jaw curved in such manner that theflat j aw will normally have extended contact with the side of a nutwhen the nut is being turned by the wrench, withscout reducing thelength of contact by the flat jaw on the side of the nut.

Still another object of my invenionis to provide a wrench of suoli fermthat duringk ratchet-like movement thereof, it may be ymoved in a planethat is angularlylisposed or inclined with respect to the plane of thelnut being operated upon.

One form` of wrench embodying` my invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawling, wherein Figure l is a plan view of a wrench and the nut incooperative relation, and Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of thewrench.

The wrench comprises the usual handle portion 2 and jaw portions Sand a,the handle being partially broken away. The shorter jaw 3 has itsnut-engaging surface provided with ribs or teeth 5 that Aare disposed ina common plane so'that they will normally be 4engaged against the sidecfa .nut during a turning operation. The teeth l instead of beingsharpened as is usual in antl-slipping devices of this character arerounded or cylindrical, the .radius of curvature of the teeth being suchthat, While they rv55 i will exert adequate gripping action upon theside ofthe nut when turning force is applied to the Wrench, arenevertheless not subject to cracking, through changes,l in temperatureduring heat-treatment of the wrench. Again, in the formingl of thewrench, the rounded surfaces can be morev conveniently and accuratelyformedfthan could loe sharp or angular ribs. f

The jaws has its nut-engaging portion rounded or cylindrical asindicated at 6. ThisV curvature of the larger jawnot only [permits thetoothed portion 5 of the to lie snugly against .the sidev of the nut .asshown in full lines, butv facilitates movenient of the wrench' to dottedline position i for the purpose of effecting a new grip on i the nut.The jaw 4 is hollowed or recessed as indicated at 7 in order to permitthe wrench to bemoved with ajratchet-like motion into' position forengaging thenutto turn the same.

The surfacefcontinues along a curved `line until itrrnerges with theinner wall 8 of the nut-receiving recess. `The wall` 8 is ,80 alsocurved anda curved surface 9 connects the surface 8 and the`nut-e'ngaging portion of the jaw 3, to provide clearance for Vthecorners of thef nut during retractive movement of thewrench. K Y 1,85

`The curved surfaces at the ends of the wall' 8 result in a stronger`wrench and,v one which is not so [likely to crackin service as wouldthe case if the ends of thesur- `face 8 terminated in angles lor cornersatc-.90 the bases, of the jaws?, and s, vand furthermore, cracks lorfissinesarev not likely to be formed atsuch points through 'changes oftemperature `during heattreatment.

. The curvatureV of the 'surface 8 is suclrnS` that it serves as a guieeor `caniming surface, as shown 1n the dotted line position of thewrench, to` facilitate turning 'of the lwrench toward and past itsdotted line The surface 8 is also of convex form in a directiontransversely thereof, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, so that thewrench may be tilted with respect to the plane of the nut duringoperation, as when the nut is so located that the wrench cannot beoperated in the same plane as the nut, or in case the operatoraccidentally tilts the wrench out of parallelism with the plane of thenut.

If the surface 8 is flat or straight in its transverse dimension,tilting the wrench results in lifting the short jaw oli' the nut aconsiderable distance, and decreases the length of contact of the shortjaw, as shown by the dot and dash lines 10 in Fig. 2. lt is evident thatby decreasing the length of contact of the short jaw, the area ofcontact between the nut and the jaw is lessened to such an extent thatturning stresses will be centralized on the nut.

On the other hand, in my form of wrench, the transversely convex surface8 permits considerable tilting movement of the wrench withY an increasein the length of the jaw contact, as shown by the dotted lines ll inFig. 2. j

Obviously, the area of contact between the nut and the short jaw remainssubstantially constant for a considerable degree of tilting movement outof parallelism with the plane of the nut, thereby permitting turningmovement of the nut by an angularly positioned wrench withoutpossibility of damage to the nut.

In Fig. 2,`the short jaw 3 is shown in full lines to more clearlyindicate the normal position and extent of contact thereof with the sideof a nut.

The surface 8 may also serve, when the wrench is in full line position,to take some of the thrust resulting from turning of trie Wrench in acounter-'clockwise direction, thns yrelieving the nose 6 of the jaw 4-of some strain and reducing tendency of such nose portion to slide onthe side of the nut during the turning thereof by the wrench.

`All points of contact of the wrench with the nut, when force is appliedto the wrench to turn the nut, are at locations removed from the cornerof the nut, as shown for example at 5, 6 and S. Danger of damaging thecorner of the nuts so that they become rounded and useless is thereforeavoided.

I claim as my invention 1. A. wrench for polygonal nutscomprisingoppositely-disposed jaw portions deining two sides of anutereceiving recess, and a surface constituting the inner wall of saidrecess, the said surface being of convex form in a directiontransversely "thereof, one of said jaws being greater in length thanonehalf the length of the said inner wall, and

`in length than one-half the length of the said inner wall, and theother jaw being less than one-half the length of the inneil wall.

3. A wrench for polygonal nuts, co1nprising oppositelylisposed jawportions defining two sides of a nut-receiving recess, one of said jawsbeing substantially flat, and a wrench surface constituting the innerwall of the recess, the said surface normally constituting the innerwall of the recess, thev said surface normally having contact with a nutand being of such form that upon til*- ing movement of the wrenchtransversely of the plane of the nut, the length ofarea of contactbetween the said Hat jaw and the nut will not be materially shortened,one of said jaws being greater in'length than one-half the length of thesaid inner wall, and the other jaw being less than one-half the'lcngthof the inner wall. L

4. A wrench for polygonal nuts comprising oppositely-disposed jawportions definingtwo sides of a nut-receiving recess and a wrenchsurface constituting the inner wall of a recess, the said surfacenormally having contact with a nut and being of such forni that upontilting movement of the wrench transversely of the plane of the nut, thedistance between the said inner wall and the outermost point of the nutat which one of said jaws engages the nut will not be materiallyshortened, one of said jaws being greater in length than one-half tirelength of the said inner wall, and the other jaw being less thanone-half the length of the inner wall.

In testimony whereof I, the said LOUIS E. ENnsLnY, have hereunto set myhand.

LOUS E. ENDSLEY.

